Smart home automation devices are being developed and fielded at such a rapid pace that new devices appear on the market practically every day. Because of the proliferation of low-power wireless network and smart phone technologies, it is not uncommon to find home and business owners in possession of smart home devices such as wireless lights, music systems, door locks, thermostats and alarm systems. And wireless white goods are just over the horizon. Based on current trends, it is expected that the average consumer will own as many as five to ten smart home devices in just a few years.
Presently, professional installers, hobbyists, and sometimes consumers themselves program home automation systems. The purpose of this programming is to automate mundane tasks such as turning porch lights on and off at certain times of the day, waking up to music in the morning, unlocking the door as the owner approaches, or setting up associations between sensors (e.g., enabling flood sensors to push notification alerts to smart phones). Heretofore, methods of programming these systems typically utilize complex web applications, scripting languages, or complex desktop/laptop application programs. Since the types of configurations that users employ vary widely (i.e., wanting products to operate in different sequences, for example), the aforementioned applications and user interfaces become very complex to account for all these variances.
As one skilled in the art will appreciate, present day techniques for the programming of automated systems for home automation installations is very complex and time consuming. Furthermore, most of this complexity is designed into individual products to allow for a wide variety of configurability. For example, each and every feature request typically requires an additional product function with a checkbox, menu, or pull-down to enable users who desire that feature within their unique configuration. As a result, the programming techniques for home automation products have become so complex and overwhelming to the average consumer that the consumer is driven away from these products. The average consumer desires convenience rather than the programming complexities associated with extreme customization.
Therefore, it would be desirable to develop convenient, user-friendly solutions to address the above-recited issues associated with smart home devices.